Microsoft case returns to lower court

The US court of appeals for the District of Columbia has sent Microsoft's protracted anti-trust case back to a lower court to determine what remedies should be imposed on the company for abusing its monopoly position.

The court last week rejected Microsoft's request that the return of the case be delayed until it had appealed to the Supreme Court.

Government lawyers are expected to argue that with the range of bundled features the company's latest operating system Windows XP possesses, Microsoft is continuing to abuse its overwhelming position in the market.

The court has also named Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly as new judge to preside over the case. Judge Kollar-Kotelly will be charged with the arduous task of determining the best way of ensuring that Microsoft does not abuse its market position again.

Kollar-Kotelly replaces the notorious Judge Penfield Jackson whose involvement in the case ended in farcical fashion in June after the Supreme court threw out plans to break up the company and accused Jackson of a personal crusade against Microsoft chairman Bill Gates.

At the time, the court ruled that "[Jackson] engaged in impermissible... contacts by holding secret interviews with members of the media, and made numerous offensive comments about Microsoft officials outside the courtroom."

This all added up to "giving an appearance of partiality", the Court claimed.

The news comes on the same day that the software giant released the Windows XP to computer makers.

Microsoft also today confirmed 25 October as the launch date for its much-hyped OS.

Industry commentators have suggested that the product was rushed to market in an attempt to avoid any delay to the release as a result of the ongoing anti-trust case.